Layspeakers, as the term applies in the United Methodist Church, are not ordained clergy but are volunteers who have been approved by the church for preaching and other ministry within the church. They may fill in for a pastor on vacation, for example. They are sometimes pressed into service for even longer periods, although in that case an ordained minister must be available for sacraments like communion or baptism which layspeakers aren’t authorized to officiate.

For a number of years now, the Tennessee Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, the governing body for Middle Tennessee, has had one evening during its annual meeting when layspeakers were honored. This year, for the first time, a layspeaker will be asked to preach during that evening’s service, on June 10 at Murfreesboro First United Methodist.

The conference asked for applications earlier this year from layspeakers interested in delivering that sermon. There were 23 sermons submitted, from which a short list of four was compiled. The four finalists delivered their sermons Saturday for the selection committee.

I would tell you who got picked, but modesty forbids.

The actual birthday was Thursday, of course, but we had cake, ice cream and hamburgers tonight:

“The Office” creator Ricky Gervais interviews John Hodgman on Gervais’ blog.

R.G. 2. When you wear this “suit” you often accessorize with facial eye glasses. Again the why?
J.H. LIKE MOST PEOPLE, my eyes are located in my face, so I find that the facial eye glasses are really the only way to go.

(For the uninitiated, Hodgman, an author and book editor, is now known as a performer as well. On The Daily Show, he is “Resident Expert John Hodgman”; he’s also the personnification of the PC on those Mac ads.)

My birthday present from the West-Coast-but-soon-to-be-Tarheel branch of the family included these two handmade items. The washcloth was knitted by my sister-in-law, and the melt-and-pour soap was colored to match, under the personal supervision of my nephew — the same S-I-L and nephew I blogged about earlier today.

The melt-and-pour soap is a not-so-subtle hint for me to get to work on a new batch of homemade from-scratch soap, or “Uncle John Soap,” as they refer to it in their household. And I need to do that.

This made me laugh out loud:

“I’m explaining to Huck about trains.”

Well, of course. The cat doesn’t know much about trains.

Sounds like my nephew likes explaining things, my favorite part of journalism. It can also be a sign of chauvinism, apparently, but I’d like to think that the Little Guy and I aren’t that particular species of explainer.

I like my sister-in-law’s post title, too.

I got home from the symphony concert and I had three messages on my answering machine. Two of them were much-appreciated birthday greetings from family members, featuring nieces and nephews who always bring a smile to my face.

The third message was from a representative of the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church.

A good while back, I submitted a sermon for consideration in the selection process for the first-ever layspeaker to preach during Annual Conference.

I’ve made the short list, apparently, and they want me to come to Franklin this Saturday and give my sermon for the selection committee.

I am so glad I went to see Verdi’s Requiem after all. In a strange sort of way, I think I’m glad I was by myself — I could focus on the music. And what music! The symphony, the chorus and all four soloists were in top form, and the acoustics at Laura Turner Concert Hall wrap the music all around you in a way that’s powerful and moving. I was torn between trying to read the supertitles and watch the expressions on the faces of the soloists versus just closing my eyes and getting lost in the music. (I frequently close my eyes when listening to really good music.)

Getting there was strange. I first parked in the wrong place — the parking garage under the SunTrust building as opposed to the parking garage across the street from, the bank. By the time I figured out what was going on, ran back to my car, got out of the first garage, and finally found a parking space in the second garage, I was scared I was going to cut it close getting to the concert. I was in such a hurry that I didn’t pay close attention to on which level I had parked, which meant I had to do some looking around at the end of the evening. I was covered in sweat by the time I got to the concert.

What a fabulous evening. I got another surprise when I got home, but I don’t want it to get lost and so I’ll make it into a separate post.

Even though I work in the newspaper business, I must warn you that you can’t believe everything you read in newspaper advertising. To wit:

I do, in fact, have the best sister on the planet.

Well, I’ve decided what to do. I’m going to the symphony. It should be a great concert — as one of the commenters on my previous post indicated — and it will be my first chance to see Giancarlo Guerrero, the symphony’s music-director-in-waiting, conduct. And I think I have pretty good seats. So I’m going to go.

It won’t be the first time I’ve been by myself; I attended the gala opening night on my own, because I was covering the festivities for the paper, and only had one ticket. In fact, on opening night Laura Turner Concert Hall was packed but, for some reason, I had an entire row in the side section of the floor to myself. I’m guessing the other seats were set aside for media people who covered the red carpet but didn’t stay for the concert.

My parents, meanwhile, called to offer to take me out for an early supper here in Shelbyville before I hit the road.

I turn 46 today.

Our family celebration of the event won’t happen until this weekend. Meanwhile, for various reasons, I have free tickets to a performance of Verdi’s “Requiem” by the Nashville Symphony tonight at the Schermerhorn. As I posted the other day, I don’t really have anyone to take right now, and the one person I asked platonically turned me down.

It’s been a busy and stressful week at work. I’m now trying to figure out whether I want to go ahead and make the drive to Nashville tonight by myself or whether I want to just relax and forget about it. If I went to the concert, I could park in the SunTrust building and all I’d be out is gas money (plus dinner, if I stopped for dinner on the way from Shelbyville).

I should probably go.

Guess what I bought from Amazon for $38.99?

Every single episode of one of the funniest shows ever telecast:

I defy you — no matter what your relationship to sports — to watch this without a catch in your throat, and a little water in your eyes.

Thanks to Times-Gazette community blogger Steve Mills for posting it.

When I was preparing for the Cape Girardeau trip, I looked up the route on Google Maps — as many of us would do — but William Mitchell, whose wife grew up in the area, told me that there was a shorter route, and so that’s how I drove out on Wednesday. Even so, I wondered about the Google Maps route — while it was longer in odometer miles, it seemed to have more Interstate miles and fewer state highway miles, and I suspected it might be quicker.

I suspected wrong.

William and I drove separately, but by the same route, on Wednesday, and he told me that some flooded bottom land along Illinois Highway 3 was much closer to the road than normal. This morning, when we were getting bucketloads of rain in Cape Girardeau, we both worried if the road might be flooded and talked about the possibility of taking alternate routes.

So when it came time for me to leave, I decided (without consulting William) to try the Google Maps route. As I said, that was a bad decision. There were fewer miles of non-Interstate road, but they were rough — including nine miles of a really bad county road, as bad or worse as anything in the remotest corners of Bedford County. And the state highway, while it was in better shape, ran through several towns in a row, and so it was slow going. I think that route cost me at least 30 minutes compared to William’s. At least I saw some different scenery in between patches of drizzle.

William did not drive all the way home to Tennessee — he’s spending the weekend in his Kentucky home town — but I wonder whether he went Highway 3, and if so whether or not it was flooded. He called to check on me at one point, but I didn’t think to ask him.

I was sort of moody on the drive home, for career-related reasons I can’t discuss fully here. To make matters worse, before the trip, I never did find anyone to take to the symphony concert coming up next week in Nashville on my birthday. The one person I asked on a platonic basis had, or claimed to have, a conflict. All this means I will probably sit at home, stare at my free tickets, and feel sorry for myself that night.

Anyway, I’m home now, and dog tired.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Well, we had a full day of Web Site Boot Camp, then toured the Southeast Missourian (most of the photos in the slide show are from that tour), then had a fantastic meal at Bella Italia downtown. It’s been a long day.

Well, it was a nice day for a drive. I got to Cape about 5 p.m., and there was a little meet-and-greet reception in a room at the hotel (an actual hotel room, without the bed, converted into a meeting room). lt was all very pleasant. I went back to my hotel room and then our general manager, the other person here from Shelbyville, called me up. Both of us had grazed at the reception and neither of us was ravenously hungry, but neither of us was completely satisfied either. So we went out to Applebee’s for a bite.

I’m looking forward to the conference. We’ll be learning more about the company’s current and future web site initiatives, and get some tips on things like video editing and podcasting.

It’s been a long day, with a lot of time on the road, and I’m tired.